LGBTQI+

Name Me Nobody

Fourteen-year-old Emi-Lou Kaya feels like a nobody in her Hawaiian town. Abandoned by her mother at age three, Emi-Lou hasn’t a clue as to who her father might be, and on top of all this, she is overweight. Her only salvation is the strength of the hard-as-nails but loving grandmother who raised her, and the feisty spirit of her best friend Yvonne. It is Yvonne who renames the dynamic duo Von and Louie, and who puts Emi-Lou on a strict weight-loss regimen. But Emi-Lou starts to worry about losing her touchstone when Von begins spending a little too much time with Babes, an older girl from the softball team. Rumors abound that her soul sister is a “butchie,” and when Emi-Lou suspects it’s true, she becomes desperate to get Von back to “normal” and back to her role as best friend.

Just In Case

Justin Case is convinced fate has in for him. And he’s right. After finding his younger brother teetering on the edge of his balcony, 15-year-old David Case realizes the fragility of life and senses impending doom. Without looking back, he changes his name to Justin and assumes a new identity, new clothing and new friends, and dares to fall in love with the seductive Agnes Day. With his imaginary dog Boy in tow, Justin struggles to fit into his new role and above all, to survive in a world where tragedy is around every corner. He’s got to be prepared, just in case.

Pretty Things

Brie is in love with Lancôme Juicy Tubes, Louis Vuitton accessories, and Charlie, her gay best friend. Charlie is in love with 1960s pop art, 1980s teen movies, and serial heart breaker Walker. Walker has only ever been in love with his VW Bug, until he meets Daisy. And Daisy is too busy hating everyone to know what love is. Friendships shift and relationship melodrama rules during a summer theater production of The Taming of the Shrew as Brie, Charlie, Walker and Daisy fall in and out of love and hate with each other. Their four voices alternate throughout the narrative, revealing the delicious inside scoop on each player’s secret thoughts and exposing the real person inside, which is always more than the exterior reveals.

Damned Strong Love

Based on a true story of forbidden wartime romance, Damned Strong Love is framed by a letter to the reader from the real Stefan, who cooperated with Lutz van Dijk in creating the book. Together they have crafted a book that shows how love can fight against hate; a book that reminds readers of the importance of tolerance and passion today.

Swimming in the Monsoon Sea

The setting is Sri Lanka, 1980, and it is the season of monsoons. Fourteen-year-old Amrith is caught up in the life of the cheerful, well-to-do household in which he is being raised by his vibrant Auntie Bundle and kindly Uncle Lucky. He tries not to think of his life “before,” when his doting mother was still alive. Amrith’s holiday plans seem unpromising: he wants to appear in his school’s production of Othello and he is learning to type at Uncle Lucky’s tropical fish business. Then, like an unexpected monsoon, his cousin arrives from Canada and Amrith’s ordered life is storm-tossed. He finds himself falling in love with the Canadian boy. Othello, with its powerful theme of disastrous jealousy, is the backdrop to the drama in which Amrith finds himself immersed.

Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle

Mini Mia loves her Uncle Tommy. They hang out in coffee bars, go for walks, swim and do other fun stuff. But one day Fergus appears in her uncle’s kitchen. Mini Mia does not want to share Tommy with his new boyfriend. She thinks Fergus should go back to where he came from in Scotland. But Fergus doesn’t disappear that easily.